Combined Structural and Plasmonic Enhancement of Nanometer-Thin Film Photocatalysis for Solar-Driven Wastewater Treatment

Abstract: Titanium dioxide (TiO$_2$) thin films are commonly used as photocatalytic materials. Here, we enhance the photocatalytic activity of devices based on TiO$_2$ by combining nanostructured glass substrates with metallic plasmonic nanostructures. We achieve a three-fold increase of the catalyst's surface area through nanoscale three-dimensional patterning of periodic conical grids, which creates a broadband optical absorber. The addition of aluminum and gold activates the structures plasmonically and improves the optical absorption in the TiO$_2$ films to above 70% in the visible and NIR spectral range. We demonstrate the resulting enhancement of the photocatalytic activity with organic dye degradation tests under different light sources. Furthermore, the pharmaceutical drug Carbamazepine, a common water pollutant, is reduced in aqueous solution by up to 48% in 360 minutes. Our approach is scalable and potentially enables future solar-driven wastewater treatment.